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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

I didn't plan to do this kind of post. But I can't sleep, I'm still mourning my phone that went into a coma state after I dropped it in the toilet (gross, I know. And of course it's accidental), clumsy me. So this is kind of an impromptu post. I take a look at my pinterest board, and take a walk in memory lane of my nail art journey since I started blogging. I'm amazed of what I've accomplished, my free hand skill improved a lot since 31 day challenge this September. I honestly didn't think I could do all that, so I'm glad I decided to participate.

So here are my 5 favorite nail art, in no particular order. The title link to the original post, if you missed it.Gradient Turtle ShellMy first popular nail art post. It's easy to do and looks amazing. I'm still thinking of recreating it with a different color palette. I also created a tutorial for this mani, featured on Nail It website here.

Christmas OrnamentThis is one of my recent mani for this holiday season. I love how I could incorporate so many colors in it, and it still feels like christmas.

FlowersThis is probably one of those nail arts that took me hours to create, and it's so worth it. I really love it! It hurt me to take it off the next day, lol.

Black & White: ChessThis is also one of my nail art that I'm proud of. One of those days in the challenge that I was worried if I can translate the idea in head to my nails, and I must say, I did good on this one.

I'm hoping to do more nail art in this upcoming year, and improve my skill. Hopefully create more tutorials as well, but I can be lazy sometimes :pIs there any of my nail art that you like but didn't make it to this post? :)Happy New Year to you all! Thank you for all your support on my tiny little corner this year. I hope to keep sharing my love of nail polish and nail art with all of you next year. XONovi

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Sorry for the lack of posts these days. I'm still on house sitting duty, and don't even have my computer with me. But I've done some swatches before I leave and saved up some blogging material, this is one of them ;). Aside from blogging, I'm kicking myself for only bringing 7 polishes for 3 weeks away from home. 7? What was I thinking?! Lol.

Anyway, this pretty I'm showing you here is Purgatory from I Love Nail Polish. The creator described this as an eerily deep and dark teal polish loaded with the perfect combination of sparkle and multichrome effect pigments.

Might be just me, but the base looks like a deep dark blue to me. It looks darker on the nail than in the bottle. The shimmer is showing nicely under a bright light, but indoor (which has poor lightning btw) I couldn't see any shimmer at all.

Formula is great and very opaque. Could almost pass as a one coater for shorties, but I used 2 coats and HK Girl top coat here. I'm thinking this would be a good stamping polish. My only concern is this might be a stainer. I've only worn this for swatching and removed it right after, and saw a very slight stain. So I suggest a double base coat for this, just in case.

ILNP Purgatory

ILNP Purgatory

ILNP Purgatory

Purgatory and other ILNP shades can be purchased directly from their website here. They retail from USD10.00 - USD12.50 for a full size 12ml bottle, and $3.75 for a 3ml sample sized bottle.XONovi

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Hope you guys are having a wonderful time with your family and loved ones!

It's just a quick post to share the swatches of one of my favorite Enchanted Polish, it's the prettiest holographic blue shade. The holo is not the strongest one I've seen out there, but still, I love it! Formula is excellent, as expected from Enchanted Polish. I used 2 coats and HK Girl top coat here, worn it for 3 days before I removed it. No chips or anything, but I just gotta do my nails, you know ;)

Saturday, December 21, 2013

It's getting closer to christmas! Have you finished your christmas shopping yet? My list is pretty short and I have everything done by now. As from today until the first week of January, I'm away from home and all my nail art tools. So you won't be seeing any nail art post from me for a while.

Today I have a super sparkly glitter polish to share with you. I picked out four Different Dimension polishes on their black friday sale. The one I'm showing you now, Da Ba Dee is one of them. This polish has different sizes and shapes of silver and blue holographic glitter, mixed in a blue jelly base. I had to put the bottle upside down before using it to get the large circle glitter out easier.

Here's Da Ba Dee on its own, 3 coats and 1 coat of HK Girl top coat.

Different Dimension Da Ba Dee

Different Dimension Da Ba Dee

1 coat of Da Ba Dee layered over a bright blue (EP Water for Unicorns), with HK Girl top coat.

Different Dimension polishes can be purchased from their etsy shop or from online retailer such as Llarowe and Mei Mei Singnatures. Don't forget to follow Different Dimension on facebook to keep up with their latest collection, restock, and sale info!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Today's post is a different than my usual ones. Nail Polish Canada contacted me, asking if I would like to help them spread the word with my readersabout this awesome giveaway they are having in the spirit of christmas!

Every holiday season millions experience a sense of sadness at the flatness in their life. In an effort to cope some find themselves straining important relationships.

“I know my husband loves me, but another day where I’m running late trying to curl my hair in a mad dash is just a fight waiting to happen” - Katie B

Could people go without curled hair? They could, but experts agree such a lack of regard and care is sure to result in a coal filled stocking.

“After the economic downturn Santa has had limited resources and he too has to make cuts, it’s not only naughty or nice anymore, but how you present yourself.” noted Mrs. Claus

Today Nail Polish Canada has announced their plans to take a stand and solve this important issue with the Babyliss Miracurl. In just seconds the Miracurl literally sucks your hair right in, curls it, then beeps letting you know it's done.

In order to raise awareness Nail Polish Canada is giving away 3 Babyliss Miracurls, to whoever can convince us they are the most “in need” of one.

“This will impact people’s lives. Together we can make a Christmas Miracurl” - Nikki Smith, VP Glitter *This is our favorite pun ever and we’ve been using it around the office for weeks

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Today I have Kiss The Sky from Takko Lacquer to share with you. It was one of my unplanned buy that happened because of a restock rush, lol. But now that I've tried it, I don't regret getting it at all.

At first I thought this would be too similar with Max Factor Fantasy Fire, if layered with the right undies. In a glace, it kinda does. But each has its own unique characteristic that stands out. Max Factor FF's shimmer looks more intense to me, as you can see it here. Kiss The Sky has a similar look, but the shimmer is a duochrome, it shifts from orange to green depends on the angle and lightning.

I have no issues with application. My swatches here are with 3 thin coats and topped with HK Girl top coat.

Monday, December 16, 2013

I received 2 new pretty in the mail today, and tonight I'm showing you one of them. It's one of the new shades from Colors by Llarowe, called Army of One. It's a dusty green with linear holographic effect. This shade is pretty unique in my holo collection, granted it's not a big collection, lol. This is the shade of green that looks quite good with my skin tone.

For the swatches here, I used 2 coats without top coat. The formula is excellent, no issues at all. In person, the green is slightly darker than shown in pics here.

CbL Army of One

CbL Army of One

CbL Army of One

Colors by Llarowe polishes are exclusively sold at Llarowe website, retails from USD 6.00 - USD 14.00 depends on the finish. Usually you can only buy these during restock or pre-order since they are selling pretty quick. But as this post is written there are still quite a few shades available to purchase, and the next restock should be sometime in January. Make sure you like Llarowe on facebook so you won't missed restock info!XONovi

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Tonight I have another christmas themed nail art to share with you. This is also my last entry for Nail Polish Canada Holiday Nail Art challenge, and the theme is "Holiday Memories" which can be anything holiday related. Since I don't have a specific holiday memories I can use as inspiration, I chose the first thing that popped up in my head when I think about the holiday season, presents! I mean, who doesn't love presents?! So I created this skittle mani of gift wrapped christmas present!

As the result of my procrastinating habit, I'm not entirely happy with the result. They're ok, I like 1-2 nails (yes, I'm playing favorite on my nails :p). But honestly, they could be better.

Here's the details of what I used:

Thumb: base color CbL Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, stamped with Color Club Harp On It and BM-323 plate. For the ribbon, I used Zoya Rocky.

Index: base color OPI Under The Mistletoe, stamped with Color Club Cloud Nine and Pueen 46 plate. For the ribbon, I used Zoya Tomoko lined with CbL Behead The Drama Queen.

Middle: base color CbL Zipper, decal stamped with Girly Bits Peel Here, OPI Under The Mistletoe, Color Club Harp On It and Pueen 38 plate. I used CbL Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for the ribbon.

Ring: base color Illamasqua Radium, stamped with CbL Behead The Drama Queen and Pueen 42 plate. OPI Under The Mistletoe is used for the ribbon.

My favorite is the thumb. It's probably better if I didn't use textured/glitter polishes for the ribbon like I did on my index and pinkie. The ribbon ended up taking too much space on the nail and you can barely see what's going on under it, lol.

What do you guys think? :) If you like it, you could head over here and give me your vote. That would be totally awesome!

Friday, December 13, 2013

Today I have several new pretty from a new-to-me indie brand Rainbow Honey. I have heard of the brand from a while, just haven't had a chance to try any of them. Recently, one of my favorite online shop, Nail Polish Canada, started carrying Rainbow Honey and asked if I would be interested in reviewing some of the polishes from this line. Well, you know my answer ;)

I have a lot of pics to show you, but here's a little preview. More after the jump!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Today's mani is a combination of water marble and my first try on Nailasaurus Nimbus nails. They don't look anywhere near as cool as Sammy's, but I still like it!

My watermarble is with Butter London Cake-Hole, Giddy Kipper, and Nicole by OPI Stand by Your Manny, over a white base. I love how the watermarble pattern resembles flower petals. The nimbus nails are using the same Butter London shades, and I added some sparkles with INM Northern Lights. I sealed off everything with HK Girl top coat, my holy grail top coat.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Crossing one more from my untried stash, I have Enchanted Polish Autumn to show you today. Autumn is a bronze shade that shifts to gold in a bright light, with holographic effect. The formula is so perfect! Smooth and easy to apply. My swatches here are with 2 coats, no top coat. All pictures were taken in a light box.

Enchanted Polish Autumn

Enchanted Polish Autumn

Enchanted Polish Autumn

Enchanted Polish Autumn

Due to the large interest of this brand, Enchanted Polish can only be purchased during restock day, and they usually sell out really quick. You can subscribe to EP big cartel to get restock notification, Nail Polish Canada (Canada & US only), Harlow & Co (world wide), and Mei Mei Signatures (world wide).

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Today I have another christmas themed nail art to share with you. I created this mani as an entry for Nail Polish Canada holiday nail art challenge, and the theme is 'Decorations'. I had a few other ideas before I finally decided to do this one. I like it cause it's pretty simple but I can make it colorful, and it's also very christmas-y. The decoration I picked is christmas ornaments. I was inspired by The Nail Network nail polish christmas ornaments.

My background is a gradient, using OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue and What's With The Cattitude over a white base. All the ornaments were free-handed, started with a white polish. Colors used for the ornaments are: OPI Under The Mistletoe, OPI It's Frosty Outside, OPI Goldeneye, OPI< Catch Me In Your Net, OPI This Gown Needs a Crown, Zoya Arabella, CbL Monkey See Monkey Do, CbL, Behead The Drama Queen, Picture Polish Imperial, Picture Polish Metallic Mush. Finished off with Glisten & Glog HK Girl top coat.

This turned out better than I expected, and i really love it! If you love it too, please vote for my mani here, I'm #36! I would really appreciate your support <3

Friday, December 6, 2013

Brrr! It really starting to feel like winter here. Which in my nail care routine means more moisturizer, hand lotion, and cuticles oil, or having a prune looking hands and dry cuticles. Yikes!

Anyway, I have a new polish that just joined my stash a few days ago. It's one of the new holographic multi chrome, My Little Glacier (H). Sad to say, this is my first disappointing experience with this brand. While the formula itself is great, I applied it easily to get to opacity in 3 thin coats. As a part of ultra chrome collection, I barely see any color shifting in this, even in low lightning, which usually makes the shifting more intense. The holo effect is just what you would expect to see from a holo polish, but only under a bright light. In regular lightning, it just looks flat :(

My photos were taken in a light box, 3 coats no top coat.

My Little Glacier (H)

My Little Glacier (H)

My Little Glacier (H)

My Little Glacier (H)

Even though I'm not a fan of this one, I do really like all the other ILNP polishes I have bought. Guess you can't win them all! ;) You can get you hands on ILNP polishes here. They have polishes from various finishes from creme, glitter topper, jellies, holographic, and of course, ultra chrome. And they ship world wide!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Yes, today is the day for another watermarble post. For all my new readers, a while ago I decided to have a segment every Wednesday, and I call it Watermarble Wednesday. Although sometimes life get in the way and I missed one here and then.

And why am I calling this post a war? Well, today for some reason watermarble just doesn't like me! It took WAY longer for me to get this mani done. It's like they know that I haven't been doing it often lately and now they're making work for it. But I still came out as a winner! *throw fist in the air* well, at least for most of the nails. They don't all look as neat as I liked them to be, and I'm already getting a headache from the fumes.

As usual, I started with a white base, here I use OPI My Boyfriend Scales The Walls. For the watermarble I use all OPI shades, Miss You-niverse, Suzi's HUngary again, My Vampire is buff, and for the last drop I use Dutch Ya Just Love OPI?.

Monday, December 2, 2013

I have the first snow this year today! Only a little bit, but enough to get me excited and stuck my head out the window *grins*. It made me want to do some holiday themed mani. But today it's just a simple one. A red and green gradient, the official christmas colors!

The red here is OPI Under The Mistletoe and the green is CbL Behead The Drama Queen. Both a very shimmery color. I added INM Northern Lights, cause I just can't resist not to do that to ALL my gradients, lol! I finished off the gradients with Glisten & Glow HK Girl top coat. My accent nail is OPI It's Frosty Outside.

I will be back with more holiday themed mani! Hope you liked this one :)